Residents in flats managed by a leading Nottinghamshire housing association are facing "eye-watering" price hikes to continue living there. The tenants include a 93-year-old woman who will have to find an extra £2,500 this year to cover the increase in her rent and service charge bills.
The Nottingham Community Housing Association (NCHA), which manages an estate of 10,000 homes, recently said it was having to scale back its construction of affordable housing because of economic factors including a rent cap. The Government-imposed cap meant NCHA could not increase rent for its tenants by more than 7% this year, with Chief Executive Paul Moat saying that the company's costs were increasing quicker than its income.
But people living in a block of NCHA managed flats in Bottesford, near Bingham, say their rent is in fact going up by 11.1% this year. Coupled with a service charge hike of over 50%, some say the increased costs will "wipe out" any increase in state pension.
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Although a 7% rent cap is in place, it does not apply to people living in sheltered housing, which combines housing with support services to enable people to live independently. Giles Inman, 59, who himself works in housing as a manager at the East Midlands' largest landlord association, has been fighting the price hikes on behalf of his mother.
In March, 93-year-old Margaret Inman was paying £158.15 a week for her rent and service charge, but this increased from the start of April to £205.83 a week. Mr Inman said: "An extra £50 a week may not sound like a lot but across the year it's an extra £2,500 that my mother has to find, which is an eye-watering sum.
"There are of course benefits that we can look into, but I don't think that should have to be the case because it's taxpayers who ultimately end up paying for that. Supported housing is exempt from the rent cap and service charges are not capped, but housing associations are still being encouraged to limit their increases. I've spoken to others locally who are not putting up costs by anything like this amount."
Another resident of the Warwick Flats in Bottesford is 84-year-old Terry Kavanagh-Greene, who has lived there for just under two years. He said: "I'm a bit more fortunate in that this doesn't financially impact me too heavily, but other people are more reliant on their basic state pension and this rise will wipe out any state pension increase.
"The service charge is the thing that's really going up and I think we need more clarity on how that is being used." Addressing why the service charge for tenants had gone up this year, NCHA's Director of Homes and Wellbeing, Holly Dagnall, said: "For some residents there has been a significant increase in the service charge they pay for communal services.
"The main bulk of this cost is gas and electricity. The government's energy price cap for domestic homes does not apply to communal spaces, such as the corridors, entrance hall and lounge and kitchen facilities at Warwick Flats.
"We work closely with specialist energy brokers to ensure the best deal for our customers, but the rates have continued to rise by almost 500%. We do everything we can to limit the costs we pass on to our customers, and have reached out to all customers to minimise energy use in communal areas and help keep future charges as low as possible."
Despite acknowledging costs have increased for NCHA, Giles Inman added: "Everyone I've spoken to has been very surprised by this level of increase. We're all living in a cost of living crisis at the moment in which businesses are having to find efficiencies, and I think NCHA needed to have found more internal savings before passing on these costs to their customers.
"Many of their customers are vulnerable and the economic outlook seems to be that inflation will not remain as high as it currently is for long anyway."
The Warwick Flats offer 22 self-contained apartments for residents, with NCHA delivering 13 such services across the East Midlands.
Services include residents having their own scheme manager and access to a 24 hour support centre, with NCHA saying the rent increase "was essential for us to maintain the level of service our residents need and deserve." But Rutland and Melton's Conservative MP Alicia Kearns, whose constituency includes Warwick Flats, said: "I have contacted NCHA for clarification on these rent increases, and what efficiencies they have made in order to protect tenants from excessive rent increases during the current cost of living crisis.
"I do not believe that NCHA's significant increases are in line with Government recommendations and expectations given that they are providing housing for our most vulnerable." NCHA's Holly Dagnall added: "The health and wellbeing of our customers will always remain our top priority.
"NCHA operate as a charitable social landlord, as such we do not make a profit on the services and the accommodation we offer, but we also cannot make a loss. We know that times are tough and that many of our customers are struggling with the cost of living crisis, and we offer a dedicated team of colleagues to assist customers experiencing financial hardship.
"They offer budgeting advice and ensure customers are receiving all benefits they're entitled to. We encourage any customer who is struggling to contact us for support."
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